Method of warp knitting with textured yarn



May 6, 1969 c. AUVILLE ET AL 3,442,099

METHOD OF WARP KNITTING WITH TEXTURED YARN Filed Sept. 20, 1965 sheet; of s @L N Ht/l ILLE END 3 GROSS INVENTORS y 6., 1969 c. AUVlLLE ET AL 3,442,099

METHOD OF WARP KNITTING WITH TEXTURED YARN Filed Sept. 20, 1965 Sheet 3 of 6 CHLV/H lqUVJLLE HND Jomm/ 6mg INVENTORS May 6, 1969 c, U L ET AL METHOD OF WAR? KNITTING WITH TEXTURED YARN Filed Sept. 20, 1965 Sheet Jam/v 62055 S fum) May 6, 1969 c. AUVILLE ET 3,442,099

METHOD OF WARP KNITTING WITH TEXTURED YARN Filed Sept. 20, 1965 I Sheet of 6 (Hall/Al QUL/ILLE Aup J HHHN GRQss INVENTORS 41mm) 7% w y 6, 1969 c. AUVILLE ET AL I 3,442,099

METHOD OF WARP KNITTING WITH TEXTURED YARN 7 Filed Sept. 20, 1965 Sheet 5 of s CRLWIV IQUVILLE HT/p \Towmm [R INVENTORS BY i NH u y 6, 969 c. AUVILLE ET AL 3,442,099

METHOD OF WARP KNITTING WITH TEXTURED YARN Filed Sept. 20, 1965 Sheet 6 0r 6 JOHAW 6ROSS Wa n/7M5 United States Patent 3,442,099 METHOD OF WARP KNITTING WITH TEXTURED YARN Calvin Auville and Johann Gross, Charlotte, N.C., as-

signors to Celanese Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 423,499,

Jan. 5, 1965. This application Sept. 20, 1965, Ser.

Int. Cl. D04b 23/00, 27/00 US. Cl. 66-86 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This application is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 423,499, filed Ian. 5, 1965, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to a novel method of warp knitting and the novel fabrics produced thereby.

Warp knitting machines are exemplified by tricot, milanese, simplex, raschel, ketten and crochet machines. Most warp knitting machines have two guide bars, though they may have three, four or more guide bars. The maximum denier of yarn knittable on a given gauge machine depends on such factors as the type of yarn, the number of filaments, the number of turns per inch or twist multiplier, the lubricant content, the mode of guide bar threading, the fabric construction, the machine speed, the size and motion of the knitting elements, etc. The maximum denier for a given type of yarn refers to the ag gregate denier of yarn lapped under the needle beard. For example, a maximum aggregate denier of 400 means that no more than a total of 400 denier supplied from one, two or three bars may be lapped under the beards. With fully threaded bars it has generally been considered in the prior art that the maximum aggregate deniers for 28 gauge tricot knitting machines, for example, are generally in the order of from about 100 to 300, the specific maximum depend ing upon the type of yarn.

With textured yarns it is not possible to knit even with the indicated deniers employing fully threaded bars or warps with 28 gauge machines. The voluminosity of the yarn is just too great and the yarns cannot be accommodated under the needle beards.

According to the present invention it has now been found possible to provide a method of producing warp knit fabric on a Warp knit machine, preferably with all bars threaded alike and most preferably fully threaded, wherein the yarn ends of at least one bar are textured and of a greater aggregate denier than is normally considered the maximum practicable aggregate denier for the particular gauge machine and particular yarn ends being used.

The drawings illustrate the stitch patterns of fabrics made according to the present invention.

3,442,099 Patented May 6, 1969 More particularly, one embodiment of this method comprises threading a first warp of textured yarn ends and a second yarn onto a first guide bar and a second guide bar, respectively, of the knitting machine; knitting a first course with said first bar while idling said second bar and then knitting a second course with said second bar while idling said first bar; and in the same manner alternating said knitting and idling in subsequent courses. Preferably the entire fabric is knit in this manner.

The resultant warp knit fabrics according to this embodiment of the present invention comprise a first warp of textured yarn ends and a second warp, said first warp knit in a first course and said second warp floated across said first course, said second warp knit in a second course and said first warp floated across said second course, said first and second courses and floated warp constituting a pattern which is repeated. Preferably the pattern is repeated throughout the fabric and thereby constitutes the fabric.

The stitch pattern of each bar spans at least two needles, i.e. each bar is actually knitting rather than merely laying in its yarn ends.

The warps used to thread up at least one of the bars comprise textured yarns. False twist textured yarns are preferred because of their high recoverable extensibility, their high quality and their especial difiiculty in being knit but other types of textured yarns can also be employed such as stutter box crimped, gear crimped, edge crimped, steam jetted, knit de-knit, and the like, provided the yarn has at least 10% and preferably at least 20% of recoverable extensibility. Recoverable extensibility is measured by allowing 2 lengths of yarn about 3 inches long to hang under its own weight, stretching it varying percentages and allowing it to retract. If the final retracted length is no more than 5% greater than the initial length the extensibility is termed recoverable. Thus if a 3-inch specimen is stretched to 4.5 inches and retracts to a final length of only 3.15 inches, its recoverable extensibility is 50%, i.e. 4.54/3. Textured yarns having lower recoverable extensibilities, e.g. of the Taslan type, would lose much of their bulk under normal knitting tensions and this bulk would not be recovered upon subsequent release of such tensions, thereby rendering such yarns unsuited for the principal purposes of the present invention.

As employed herein, textured yarns are yarns having a density of less than that of the untextured parent yarn, density being measured as defined in US Patent No. 2,783,609, i.e. by being wound at a tension of 0.01 gram per denier on a quill adapted for accurate measurement of volume. It the density of the parent yarn is unknown it can be approximately determined by measuring the density of the textured yarn wound on a quill at a tension high enough to straighten out the running yarn.

The textured yarns employed are of at least total denier which would correspond in volume, measured under density-determining tension, to an untextured yarn of at least about denier. Preferably the textured yarn is of at least total denier since these are the more common textured yarns, which are also the least capable of being knit on 28 gauge tricot machines. Advantageously the yarns are of continuous filaments each of less than about 10 denier. However, textured staple fiber yarns can also be employed although the denier per fiber advantageously is within the limits prescribed for continuous fils.

With the methods of the present invention under full threading aggregate deniers of up to about 500 can be achieved where maximum aggregate deniers previously attainable were substantially leSS. Nylon and cellulose acetates, which term includes both secondary cellulose acetate and cellulose triacetate, from the point of view of aesthetics are preferred materials of which the yarns may be comprised. However, the materials of which the yarns are comprised may be any that are conventionally warp knittable, e.g. nylon, polyester, polymers and copolymers of vinylidene monomers such as ethylene, propylene, acrylonitrile, vinyl chloride, and the like.

As noted, in the preferred embodiment of the invention each bar knits in alternate courses. However, one bar can knit more than one course provided the second bar is idling or producing floats of unknit yarns, and then the second bar can knit for one or more courses while the first bar does not lap a needle with its yarn. The alternation may be precise or random. Representative repetitive patterns for the bars of a two bar machine in which one bar is knitting while the other bar is idling, include:

first bar, first Ibar, second bar (1, 1, 2) first bar, first bar, second bar, second bar (1, 1, 2, 2) preferably first bar, second bar (1, 2)

It is possible to knit as many as about 10 courses consecutively with a bar while idling another bar. In order that the fabric exhibit no or minimum bunching, it is preferred that the maximum number of courses knitted consecutively by a bar while idling another bar be about 4 and most preferred about one.

While two bar tricot machines are preferred, Raschel machines or three bar tricot and Raschel machines can also be employed as well as other multi-bar warp knitting machines provided at least two bars are Provided with warps of textured yarn ends in accordance with the present invention.

The invention will now be further described by reference to the drawings in which dots 10 represent the needles of the knitting machine, 11 represents the yarns of the front bar and 12 represents the yarns of the back bar of a two bar tricot knitting machine; in each of the figures the drawing to the right of the front and back bar stitch patterns shows the front and back bar yarns combined in a fabric;

In FIGURE 1, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-0, 1-1, 1-2 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 1-1;

In FIGURE 2, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-0, 2-2, 2-3 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of l-O, 1-1, 1-2, 1-1;

In FIGURE 3, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-0, 1-1, 1-2 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 2-2, 2-3, 1-1;

In FIGURE 4, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of -0, 0-1, 1-1, 1-0 and y-arns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 2-2, 2-3, 1-1;

In FIGURE 5, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 0-0, 0-1, 1-1, 1-0 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 3-3, 3-4, 1-1;

In FIGURE 6, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-1, 1-0, 1-1, 1-1, 1-2 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 1-2, 1-1;

In FIGURE 7, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-1, 1-0, 2-2, 2-2, 2-3, and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 1-2, 1-1;

In FIGURE 8, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-0, 2-3 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 1-1, 1-1, 1-2, 1-1, 1-1;

In FIGURE 9, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 2-2, 2-2, l-O, 2-2, 2-2, 3-4 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 1-2, 1-1;

In FIGURE 10, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 1-1, l-1, 1-2, 1-0 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 1-2, 1-1, 1-1;

In FIGURE 11, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 2-2,

4 2-2, 2-3, 1-0 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 1-2, 1-1, 1-1;

In FIGURE 12, yarns 11 have a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-1, 1-2, 1-0 and yarns 12 have a stitch pattern of 1-0, 3-4, 1-1, 1-1.

The above stitch patterns are merely given by way of example and other stitch patterns following the principle of the present invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

The invention will now be further illustrated by means of the following examples.

EXAMPLE 1 Both bars of a 2-bar, 28-gauge tricot knitting machine are fully threaded with false twist textured 200 total, denier, 32 filament, 3 turns per inch of Z-twist cellulose acetate yarn having a density of about 70% that of the untextured parent yarn. The back bar is operated at a stitch pattern of 1-2, 1-1, 1-0, 1-1 and a 30-inch runner and the front bar is operated at a stitch pattern of 2-2, 2-3, 1-1, 1-0 and a 34-inch runner; the number of inches per rack is 7. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the bars knit in a 1, 2 alternating sequence. The greige yield is 2.4 sq. yards per 1b.

EXAMPLE 2 Both bars of a 2-bar, 28-gauge tricot knitting machine are fully threaded with false twisted textured 200 total denier, 32 filament, 3 turns per inch of Z-twist cellulose acetate yarn. The back bar is operated at a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-2, 1-1, 1-0 and a 32-inch runner and the front bar is operated at a stitch pattern of 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 1-1 and a 20-inch runner; the number of inches per rack is 6. The stitch pattern indicates the bars knit in a 1, 2 sequence. The greige yield is 2.5 sq. yards per lb.

EXAMPLE 3 Both bars of a 2 bar, 28-gauge tricot knitting machine are fully threaded with false twist textured 200 total denier, 32 filament, 3 turns per inch of Z-twist cellulose acetate yarn. The back bar is operated at a stitch pattern of 1-1, 1-0, 1-1, 1-2 and a 2 5-inch runner and the front bar is operated at a stitch pattern of 1-0, 2-2, 3-4, 2-2 and a 45-inch runner; the number of inches per rack is 6. The stitch pattern indicates the bar knitting sequence is 1-2. The greige yield is 1.9 sq. yards per 1b.

EXAMPLE 4 Both bars of a 2 bars, 28-gauge tricot knitting machine are fully threaded with 150 total denier, 40 filament, 2 turns per inch of Z-twist cellulose triacetate yarn having a density of less than than of the untextured parent yarn. The back bar is operated at a stitch pattern of 1-2, 1-1, 1-0, 1-1 and a 24-inch runner and the front bar is operated at a stitch pattern of 2-2, 2-3, 1-1, 1-0, and a 30-inch runner; the number of inches per rack is 5. The stitch pattern indicates the bar knitting sequence is 1-2. The greige yield is 2.4 sq. yards per lb.

It will be apparent that many widely different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. The process of knitting on a 28 gauge multi-bar warp knitting machine with textured yarn of greater aggregate denier than is normally considered the maximum practical aggregate denier which comprises threading up each guide of at least two bars with the same textured yarn of at least denier, commencing knitting, knitting at least one course with one of said bars while the second bar idles, knitting one but not more than about four courses with the second bar while the first bar idles, and continuing to alternate the knitting with one of said bars while idling the other bar.

2. The process of knitting on a 28 gauge multi-bar warp knitting machine with textured yarn of greater aggregate denier than is normally considered the maximum practical aggregate denier which comprises threading up each guide of at least two bars with the same thermoplastic false twist textured yarn made up of a plurality of continuous filaments of less than about 10 denier each, having a total denier of at least 150, having a density less than half 5 that of the parent untextured yarn when measured at 0.01 gram/ denier tension and having at least 10% of recoverable extensibility, commencing knitting, knitting one but not more than about four courses with one of said bars while the second bar idles, knitting at least one course with the second bar while the first bar idles, and continuing to alternate the knitting with one of said bars while idling the other bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,783,609 3/1957 Breen 57140 2,996,906 8/1961 Ichibe 66-195 ROBERT R. MACKEY, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 66--l95 

